It is frequently advantageous to place a second strap on an object, such as a bundle of newspapers, at right angles to the first strap. Heretofore, rotating the object often has been done at a station remote from the strapping station since it is difficult to fit the necessary rotating components into the highly complex machinery of the strapping apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,138 shows a typical bundle-rotating device remote from a strapping station. The disadvantage with this type of bundle-rotating device is that it requires moving the bundle out of the strapping station for the purpose of rotating the bundle. This movement of the bundle requires considerable time and defeats the purpose of high-speed strapping machines in which the bundle is delivered to the strapping station and removed at extremely high rates of speed and the straps are placed on the bundle at the strapping station in less than a second. A strapping machine capable of doing such rapid strapping and movement of the bundle into and out of the strapping station, for example, is shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,120,239 and 4,201,127 (the subject matter of both patents being incorporated by reference into this description).
Other known types of rotating apparatus are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,850,963 and 3,783,773. Both devices are complicated in operation and require a considerable amount of time for rotating the object to be strapped. In particular, the structure of U.S. Pat. No. 2,850,963 requires rotation of the object, followed by repositioning of the object, which, during its initial rotation, can be skewed out of proper alignment on the conveyor. Furthermore, the delivery to and removal from the strapping station is umbersome and time consuming.
Another machine uses a pair of opposed pushers which engage opposite sides of the object at forward and rearward halves and rotate the bundle directly on the conveyor, which has a relatively slippery surface for this purpose. Rotation by the use solely of these opposed pushers is slow. This type of machine is also limited in its ability to convey a bundle rapidly.